US Healthcare learnings from Cuba

Listening to President Obama’s recent speeches on healthcare reform it is clear that the US approach to healthcare requires a radical change in thinking.

The US is now spending over $2 trillion a year on healthcare – almost 50% more per person than the next most costly nation.

Americans are most definitely not getting “bang for their buck,” as the President himself puts it, and are spending much more on health care than any other nation, but paradoxically aren't any healthier for it.

But what’s so Wrong with the current American Healthcare System?

In the President’s address to the American Medical Association (AMA) Thinking Pharma was struck by two key points that the President made:

Firstly only one percent of health care spending goes to identifying what treatments actually work. Many Physicians and Patients are making decisions without the benefit of the latest research and the result is that vast amounts of money are being spent on things that aren’t actually making the people any healthier.

Secondly there is not nearly enough investment in preventative care and wellness to avoid illness and disease in the first place.
Could America learn anything from its Cuban Neighbour?

Looking to Cuba could be a bitter pill to swallow for many in America but then radical problems require radical thinking and radical solutions.

Many articles, books and even a documentary film, Sicko, by Michael Moore have explored the Cuban healthcare system. Not many though have explored Cuba’s use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM).
CAM Advances in Cuba

American herbalist, acupuncturist and writer Geoff D'Arcy visited Cuba in 2004 and reported his findings on the integration of CAM into the Cuban health care system

For the last fifteen years, Cuba has integrated herbs, homeopathy and acupuncture to help produce a cost effective medical system in response to the economic collapse in the early 1990s, as pharmacy and hospital shelves became empty of expensive and increasingly scarce pharmaceutical drugs.
Integrating CAM into the Orthodox Health System

Cuba committed to an accelerated programme of growth for the development of CAM, and its integration with conventional medicine.

But how has this worked in practice?

Each neighbourhood has a 'green pharmacy', where alternative medicines are made and sold instead of unaffordable and scarce pharmaceuticals.

Needless to say great emphasis is placed clearly on prevention and wellness. Everyone receives an annual check up with additional examinations offered to those in higher risk groups.

Physicians and nurses are offered four-year speciality training in CAM as well as two-year master's programmes, all taught by expert doctors from China and Vietnam.

Experts in Cuba report that the integration of CAM is a good approach that is there to stay and will last beyond any economic improvement.
Is the US Healthcare set up Backwards? A final thought.....

In ancient China, doctors were only paid when their patients were healthy. If the patients became sick, the Chinese doctor went bankrupt!